Read the full script of Module 1, Episode 2 of the Global Growth Master Class below. Want to get certified on global expansion? Simply click here to access the complete course today.

 
In the well-regarded book, Crossing the Chasm, author Geoffrey Moore discusses the huge gap that lies between early adopters and the early majority in the technology adoption cycle. It’s one thing to develop a product or service that a small group of customers like, but something completely different to get widespread adoption.

A similar gap exists when a company looks to expand in international markets. It’s one thing to build a company that sees success in an initial market, but something completely different for that company to reach global scale. 

Some companies will tout being a “global” business, having customers in 100+ countries, when in reality their product is listed in app stores in many countries and they have a few hundred users in many countries. As you will see in this course, there is a BIG difference between having a few customers in a market and not having a local presence, and truly launching in a market, building a team, and localizing the business for each international market.

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In today’s marketplace, you can’t do things exactly the same way you did in that first market in other markets and expect to succeed, a mistake many legacy-minded companies make. You need to take a different approach that is detailed throughout this course.

Now you may say, wait a minute, there are platforms and tools that make accessing a global customer base much easier. That is true, times have changed, and barriers to entry have decreased. At the same time, local competition has risen as global markets have easier access to education and technology, resulting in businesses that understand the local context and therefore can compete at a local level better than many international companies who enter the market - because of this, effective localization is needed to succeed at scale in international markets.

The scope of this localization requires changes to not only products, pricing and marketing, but also changes to how the company operates in the local market and how it navigates conflicts in culture. That is why in a later module we talk about the crucial step of getting “company-market fit” in a new country and not just stopping at “product-market fit.”

There are many steps and considerations to keep in mind as you are crossing the chasm between domestic success and international scale, which include:

• Minding cultural gaps

• Navigating differences in regulation

• Developing the internal capability to support operating in multiple countries

• Having alignment among company leadership, avoiding siloed myopic thinking

• Committing the necessary resources over a sustained period of time, along with the rest of what we call the 4 Commitments for Successful Global Growth, discussed in another module

• You must foster the local and company knowledge to penetrate local markets

• Building a team with the empathy to understand local markets and localize the business for those markets

• And to effectively manage the complexity that comes along with necessary localizations 

While this is a multifaceted challenge, this course is designed to guide you through all the major topics you need to understand to build a truly global organization. This course meets you where you and your organization are at, and helping you to build your custom bridge to cross the chasm between local market success and global scale.

NOTE: Don't miss out on the next episode! If you want to continue learning about global expansion strategies and dive deeper into the course material, simply click here to access Module 1, Episode 3 of the Global Growth Master Class.